California: I-805 Palm Avenue Bridge

A Project Nearly 30 Years in the Making  

Challenge: It was congested back in 1996, when San Diego officials first began talking about how badly it needed a fix. Today, traffic on the Interstate 805 and Palm Ave. interchange in the fast-growing Otay Mesa neighborhood is even worse. The bridge handles more than 37,000 cars daily, including 750 freight trucks. Almost 60,000 cars per day are expected to cross it by 2040. Palm Avenue is one of only two major streets that move traffic east and west between Otay Mesa and Nestor, Palm City and Imperial Beach.  

Solution: A $24 million Bridge Investment Program grant from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will upgrade the 50-year-old bridge – located only a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border – with a new carpool lane for the northbound 805 onramp and metering for north and southbound onramps. It will also expand left-turn lanes in both directions. Rounding out the renovation are road realignments, six-foot-wide sidewalks, separated bicycle lanes, and new bus stops. The rehab and preservation work aims to improve the bridge’s structural integrity, increasing seismic resiliency in the event of earthquakes. 

What they’re saying: “This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant will help us upgrade this aging, 50-year-old bridge, improving traffic flow and making it safer for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists alike.” – San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria “(NBC 7 News San Diego, 04/13/2023) 

Photo Credit: City of San Diego